Canada follows UK in closing Cairo embassy

Days after Australia updated its travel advice for Egypt to warn of terrorist attacks, the UK and Canada have both shut their embassies in Cairo.

Canada has closed its embassy in Egypt, citing security reasons, as the British embassy remained closed to the public for a second day running.

Police closed roads around the main entrance to the British embassy.

Both buildings are in Cairo's Garden City district, just south of Tahrir Square and near the Egyptian cabinet's headquarters.

The Canadian Foreign Ministry's website carried a brief statement reading: "Due to security reasons, the embassy of Canada in Cairo will be closed on Monday, December 8, 2014."

British ambassador John Casson, in a statement posted on a British government website, said that their decision was taken "to ensure the security of the embassy and our staff".

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"We are working to restore full services as quickly as possible and to keep British nationals in Egypt and other customers informed," Casson added.

The embassy asked members of the public not to come to the embassy building.

The closures come two days after the Australian Foreign Ministry updated its travel advice for Egypt to warn that terrorists might be planning attacks against tourist sites, government ministries and embassies in Cairo.


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